All the elite caliber PG's had terrible games against us except Kyrie Irving (with Bev playing). They don't do whatever they want 95% of the time when Bev's defending them. His job is not to playmake, that's James Harden. You want him to be James Harden? Won't happen. Its interesting how you focus SO much on offense while downplaying every aspect of defense. Defense wins championships. Extra possessions wins playoff games. Bev does both. I get you want to replace Bev, but who exactly are we replacing him with? I'm sure Russell Westbrook and every PG in the West would LOVE for us to trade Bev for Dragic. Then they are guranteed an east 35-40pts
Its always easy to find someone to hate than to love. We don't have Lin in this team anymore, so whatever we have been saying about Lin with all those unpleasant memories will be applied with more expectations, and even more unfairly on Bev. That's not very hard to understand.
This season thus far Bev's 3 pointer has made great progress, I'm happy about that. But this season' hasn't ended yet. When Bev hits the open market, he won't be hitting it as an "elite shooter" the way Kyle Korver, Jason Kapano, or JJ Reddick. Right now Bev is a few points below 0.400 - there are still a plethora of guys shooting above 0.400 from 3 (around 70 or so total and 35 guys who shoot them at a significant rate). The other thing you're ignoring is that Bev's defense comes and goes with what's he surrounded with. Meaning that Bev's defense is maximized when he has other willing defenders around him, similar to how a guy like Jimmy Butler or Kawhi Leonard can shine against perimeter stars when they've got Noah and Duncan behind them. Dwight's still a top notch interior defender and discourages other teams from driving into the paint, which maximizes Bev's in your face type defense. Bev's biggest strengths are his toughness and his hustle. His shooting is also good, but not elite - thus my evaluation of his next contract being at Tony Allen level around 5 to 6 mil AT BEST. Put him on a team like Philly and all of Bev's stats would suffer, thus lowering his potential offers.
Westbrook was 6-13 and scored 16 points. Bev was 5-11 and scored 13 points. But if you have watched the game, Bev absolutely outplayed Westbrook tonight and was very solid on both end. Nice to see him bounce back.
I cant think of a role playing PG that shoots the three as well as Bev while playing D and rebounding like he does.
Statistically speaking the list of people who have ever put up a season of the combined 3P%, assist rate, and rebounds per 36 that Beverley is this year: -Beverley -Dallas-title-era Jason Kidd -Steve Francis that one and only year he shot the three well -1990 Fat Lever -Ginobili
Your point? 40% is still GREAT. Combined with the fact his defense is ELITE makes him very difficult to replace. Comes & goes? You can say that with just about ANYBODY labeled a great defender lol. Last nite was a GREAT example of Bev's worth. His defense on WB was fantastic (16pt, 6-13 is VERY good). He pressured the ball, forced turnovers and even had a few blocks. So Bev's strengths are toughness & hustle, but not defense? LMAO That's ridiculous. EVERYBODY knows Bev's a great defender and it showed last nite against one of the best PG's. Like I said from the beginning, alsong as he can force the top tier guards into inefficient games then replacing him will be VERY difficult. Whens the last time Dragic forced a pg like WB into a bad game?
I'm not big on Bev but I will say he has the ability to forget his bad plays & missed shots and still be aggressive, he took a big charge and had a clutch layup to help get the win.
That charge he took was a bad call by the refs. He was clearly moving. I'm glad he got it. But let's be real, it was 50-50 at best. The lay-up was gutsy and a great play.
Shoot...I'm a raging homer. I hope Bev remains a Rocket for a very long time, but just not as the starter. We need an upgrade, but Bev brings a lot to the team, and I hope he stays with us.
Bev's crappy play for the past few games needs to be addressed. His defense has been awful and he can't hit the 3s. It is time for Canaan to take up more of his minutes.
With today's game where TJ performed above expectation, I think it will make DM easier to focus in upgrading our team. We are pretty much settled with our PF, now its time to search for true high quality PG.